Good Bye...for now

Yesterday, May 7, 2012 Brad left the country. Right now he is on a plane from Germany to Kuwait. He started in Golfport, Mississippi and went to Virgina. Last night around 8 pm he left there to go to Germany.

This past weekend I was able to fly down and see him on Friday morning and staying until Sunday evening. I'm going to do my best to express my feelings about this weekend and detail as much as I can so when I'm sad and feeling down and lonely I can come back here...read this post, and remember all the details of our amazing weekend together.

Leaving St. Louis

Thanks to my parents I was able to book a flight and head out early Friday morning. Allie was staying with my parents and Marley with Brad's. My flight left at 7:11 am to Atlanta. From Atlanta I flew to Golfport/Biloxi Airport in Mississippi. Upon arrival I got my bag and rental car and head to my cousin Katie's house where Brad was. It took about 30 minutes to get there. We text (unsafe I know) along the way about how close I was. As I pulled up I seen him sitting outside waiting for me in the driveway. At that moment I fell in love with the man I married all over again. Something I did over and over this weekend! We hugged and kissed and said I love you. Going in I visited with Katie for a little while. Brad showed me the things he bought for me he bought me two dresses, a halter top shirt, a pair of wedges, and black earrings. Everything fit perfect and was beautiful.

This man can shop for me! We were trying to decide on what we wanted to do for the evening. Everything is pretty close driving range and we decided we wanted to visit New Orleans. Brad had 7 am formation on Sunday so going Saturday night was out of the question. So about 1 pm on Friday we decided to make the trip right then.

One of my dresses

Sleeping on the way to NO

We put New Orleans in to the GPS and we were on our way. We booked a hotel along the way and checked in about 3:30 in the afternoon. I will spare all the love making details :):) We showered and dressed and left for Bourbon Street!!!!! I've been one other time when I was 15 and I was scared of that place! It was too big, too loud, and too crowed. This time with my right hand man, knowing he would keep me safe, I was in heaven! We parked and starting our evening. We walked up and down the blocks for a while before getting a drink. We decided to eat. We ate at a restaurant called La Bayou. It was a fancy place. Not a place we would normally go in and prices we would normal not pay. Brad said were going to live it up, this is the only time we have. I agreed. Our dinner was not our taste but we tried something different, we had fried alligator and this combo plate that included, gumbo, Etoufee, and jambalaya. After dinner we went back out on the streets and stepped in a few bars for a quick peak. We seen they had these hurricanes for sale. We had to buy one. For $10 it was considered a

steal. Brad ordered a blue moon and we sat in there for about an hour. We went upstairs and enjoyed the view from the balcony for a bit. Brad wanted to hear a blues band so we went on to another bar. We stopped in a bar and stayed there for a few hours. I don't know any of the names of the bars we went in to because there are so many one after another. Names are not important. We sang, danced, and loved on each other. The band was great and we were having the time of our lives. I remember thinking in my head how I couldn't stop smiling and I was so happy

to be there with him right then enjoying the time together. Brad seen a few guys from another unit but in the same bunk he was in and we hung out with them for most of the night. We went from bar to bar drinking and dancing. It was a really good time. About 1 am I decided that I was ready to go back, I had been up since 3 am the night before. We left the group and headed back. We stopped and had a slice of pizza before I drove us back.

Saturday morning we woke up and had a quick breakfast before heading back to Golfport, I seen an outlet mall on the way to New Orleans that I wanted to shop at. We wanted to go to the beach after that. We shopped, Brad bought me a new Coach purse with matching wallet and a new swim suit. He bought a hat. We stopped at a gas station and bought some corona, and went to the

beach. I was surprised there were not many people there, it was a beautiful day, perfect weather. We hung out with just us two the entire time, we did get in the water. I was nervous, scared of sharks. We went out ways but were only up to our chest. We listen to music and just enjoyed each other. It started to look like it was going to rain so we packed up and headed to Hattiesburg where Camp Shelby is. We rented a hotel right outside of the base, we checked in and got ready to go out to dinner and go out to a country bar called Ropers. The evening was fun and we got back to our hotel about 2:30 am. Brad was wide awake and I was dead tired. When we go in bed Brad just sang Aerosmith "Don't Want to Miss a Thing" song to me as I feel asleep. I woke up a few times and he was still awake just watching me sleep. I realized at this moment, half asleep, that this man loves me just as much as I love him.

He had to get up and be at formation at 7 am and he stayed up all night to take every last second of me as he could. He kissed me good bye and told me he brought me a honey bun. He'd be back and we were going to breakfast. I pulled myself out of bed and showered, I wanted to be ready when he got back. When he got back we went to IHOP for breakfast with a few others from his unit. They were having a barbecue for the entire platoon that was being deployed at noon. We had a few hours so we went back to the hotel and took a nap. We went to the BBQ and hung out for a bit but it was really hot and we just really wanted to be alone because I only had a few more hours before I had to leave. We went back to his barracks and he showed me his "space". Brad ran in the Chaplin and ask him if he would pray with us before I had to leave, it put a little peace in my heart, I know God is going to take care of Brad while he is away. I know God is going to give me the strength to raise our girls and carry on an everyday life for them. We turned on a movie and snuggled up on his mini twin size bunk and watched a movie and fell asleep together. When we got up it was time for me to leave.

He walked me out to the car to say our one last final good bye. He usually leaves me, this time I had to leave him. It. Was. Hard! After many kisses and long hugs I got in the car and drove away. Driving away from the base I just wanted to turn back and steal him and bring him home with me!!! I cried all the way to the airport, at the airport, on my flights, all the way home...until midnight when I layed in my bed, alone, no girls, no Brad, just me. I never felt more alone in my life then I did then. It was too quite in the house.

I needed sleep so bad from the long day I had. After a quick prayer I was sleeping.

That pretty much wraps up my weekend with him. It was amazing. We needed this time together and we made every second count.